No Body EP

Brookyln duo Beacon's music fuses the deceptively sweet melodies of R&B with an inoxicating undercurrent of darkness, drawing on influence as disparate as Warp's back catalogue and Underworld. The No Body EP is the first recorded realization of this aesthetic, four songs that are ostensibly smooth and silky at first listen, but with something more complex lurking just beneath the surface. Themes of failed love abound, manifesting themselves in unsettling and occasionally disturbing imagery—the band's Mullarney says his lyrics often discuss "how desperate first love can seem, and how those forlorn feelings of a maturing young person can manifest into belief in the mystical, horrific or sublime."

And indeed, despite its melodic veneer, opening track "See Through You" is an anti-love song of sorts, its lyrical denouement suggesting both resignation and dissatisfaction: "I can see through your love/ And I know it's not enough." "No Body" is more overtly sinister—"I follow you around," goes the refrain, "So you won't be alone"—while "Exhale" strips the band's sound down to nothing more than a brooding bass part and a single echoing clap sample, creating an atmosphere that's all claustrophobic summer nights when it's too hot to sleep.

Closing track "Girl in a Coma", meanwhile, describes exactly what its title suggests, but leaves the details vague enough to be thoroughly discomfiting: "My girl's in a coma/ But she's about to wake up/ She's got on all her make-up/ And we're making plans/ Plans for the weekend/ And she'll remember everything." Why's she in a coma? What happened to her? What is it that she's going to remember? Do we even want to know? All these questions remain unanswered—like the EP as a whole, the song leaves you wanting more.

About Beacon

The best music is music that can make you think as well as feel, sounds that are as visceral as they are cerebral. And the best love songs are those that acknowledge that the power of human sexual...check out Beacon's page and other releases